Nanosolar, a heavily financed Silicon Valley start-up whose backers include Google’s co-founders, plans to announce Tuesday that it has begun selling its innovative solar panels, which are made using a technique that is being held out as the future of solar power manufacturing. They claim to be the first solar panel manufacturer to be able to profitably sell solar panels for less than $1 a watt. That is the price at which solar energy becomes less expensive than coal. Yea!

The United States government on Wednesday rejected a request by California for it to be allowed to introduce tough new vehicle emissions standards, dealing a blow to the state’s hopes of slashing greenhouse gas levels over the next decade. How terrible that would be to adopt our strict standards across the country…